I'm going to be a big sister!

Hi Everyone: I'm going to be a big sister, and I'm so excited! My mom and dad tell me that the new baby is coming to be in our family in late April. I can't wait to meet my new brother! I wonder if that's how Daisy and Duke felt about me when they knew I was on the way?

12 wk ultrasound

Love,

Ashley Reagan

School Christmas Party 2009

Ashley's school Christmas party was Thursday, Dec 17. It was a really neat afternoon. Parents all brought snacks and then Santa came for a visit to each class. Each child was called by name to come sit on Santa's lap, and he presented them with a wrapped book that parents helped him "pick out" and a bag of fruit. It was precious! Ashley was the bravest little person in her class. Most of the kids her age were still very unsure of the big man in the red suit with a stark white beard, but Ashley sat on his lap and cooed at Santa and even waved "hello" a few times. He was the most gentle Santa I'd ever seen and was so patient with all the kids, even more so with those that were terrified and screaming! Thank you Kids Campus for a Christmas moment to remember!

A Visit with Santa

About 2 weeks before Christmas this year, I was on a mission to find a place to get a photo of Ashley with Santa that didn't include the overcrowed Mall. Luckily, the neighborhood baby boutique, Baby Bugaloo, hosted a holiday shopping party with lots of activities for kids, including a visit with Santa and a professional photographer. The photographer is a friend of the owner, and I'm sure they were both trying to increase their December bottom line. Good plan, this marketer says!


Anyway, it was in the 20's-a bitterly cold day for Austin, Texas and the one hour for Santa's visit to the boutique was smack in the middle of Ashley's nap time, but for some reason that day she only slept for about 15 minutes, so when I realized we could make it to see Santa, I stripped her down and yanked the first holiday dress I found off the hanger and threw it over her head. Before I could get her arms in, this precious little thing decided in that moment that she would run for the very first time, nearly naked through what seemed like a freezing cold house! Lucky Mom! I finally caught her on her way down the stairs, and we finished dressing. I loaded her up and off we went to see Santa.


Turns out Santa photos look awesome with a green dress, instead of the traditional red that would blend right into Santa's suit. I certainly wasn't thinking about that as I was grabbing the first little dress I saw in the closet. It was so worth the rush, and the whole experience seemed meant to be. Isn't it nice when things just go right?

Thanksgiving Feast

Ashley's First

Thanksgiving

Feast

Ashley with Great

Granddaddy Oral

Ashley with Uncles

Tim (left) &

Mark (Right)

While this wasn't Ashley's first Thanksgiving, it was her first "real" Thanksgiving meal. Last year, this time, she was still feasting on milk. We spent the first half of the Thanksgiving week with Travis' family in Dallas and then headed back to Austin to see my parents. Ashley seemed to really enjoy her Thanksgiving meal, and the dogs especially enjoyed her scraps. They didn't even let it hit the floor as it went overboard off the highchair tray.

A trip to the Dallas Zoo

After months of trying to take Ashley to a zoo, we finally made it to the Dallas Zoo on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving while we were in town for a visit. I was anxious to see how much Ashley would be able to take in. How much would she be able to see if the animals were far from the fence or smaller in nature? I was pleasantly surprised!
We've been reading lots of books about animals, and every time we turn a page to see a gorilla, Ashley is drawn to it. It turned out that the path we choose to tour the zoo took us to the gorilla habitat first. We were able to see several gorillas through a viewing "cave," and she was able to point to the gorillas she saw. One of her other favorite animals was a beautifully colored parrot. We visited the pre-school area of the zoo where she got to pet a bunny, a goat and a miniature horse. The weather was gorgeous and we had a super fun day!

Happy Fall

We were very busy the month of October, having as much fun as possible. While we've been cheering on the Longhorns on Saturdays, we've found some time to enjoy the beautiful Austin weather.

We attended our first neighborhood event, the fall carnival, and we also took a day trip out to Sweetberry Strawberry Farm in Marble Falls. http://www.sweetberryfarm.com/

To celebrate Halloween, Ashley had a parade and party at school. All the kids looked so cute. During the party, Ashley's teacher said it was the quietest 30 minutes in the room all week since the kids were so busy eating the healthy snacks all the parents signed up to bring. We took cinnamon raisin bread and cream cheese sandwiches cut into pumpkin and fall leaf shapes using Halloween-themed cookie cutters.



We didn't take Ashley trick-or-treating this year, but she did greet our trick-or treaters decked out in her dragonfly costume.

In addition, Granny turned 90 on November 1, so we were also there to help her celebrate. Happy Birthday, Granny!


Check out my Smilebox digital photo album.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Ashley's Trip to the Aquarium

We were so excited to see Ashley after missing her during our time away, we wanted to spend a special day with her. After we returned from Mexico, we had to pick Ashley up in Dallas, so we stayed an extra night and visited the Dallas World Aquarium the next day. We saw lots of neat multi-colored fish swimming through coral reefs (left), a manatee, sea turtles (middle), rays, beautiful birds, a few penguins, otters (right) and even a Jaguar.

Where will Ashley go next?

Ahh! Vacation, at last!

Travis and I decided it was high time for a vacation, so we left Ashley in Dallas with her grandparents the (3 days with Gem & Granddad Jack and 3 days with Nana & Papa) the last week of September. The result was six glorious, relaxing days in Akumal, Mexico, about 2 hours south of Cancun, just north of the Tulum ruins.

We had a fantastic time! Our biggest decision each day was either to spend the afternoon at the beach with warm, clear blue water or at the pool with the swim up bar. The resort was all-inclusive so meals, drinks and most entertainment were all included. We were even able to "rent" bicycles and tour the grounds one morning after breakfast. This turned out to be a hot way to spend the morning, but it was well worth the effort. While we missed Ashley terribly, we had a wonderful time on our vacation, and she enjoyed visiting with her grandparents.

The view from our breakfast and lunch table. The water seen behind the foliage is the crystal blue ocean.






On the morning of our bicycle ride (note the red cheeks), we stopped at one of the look-out towers in the resort.






My Birthday Dinner. Each guest at the resort gets to make reservations at one of the restaurants on the property. Otherwise, it's a cafeteria style eating plan. We chose to make reservations the night of my birthday so we could enjoy a nicer, quieter meal.

We made friends with one of the resident iguanas on the property. We named him, "Julio." Another guest gave me the bright idea to feed iguanas bananas from the breakfast bar. Fun!

Ashley's First Hair Cut

At nearly 14 months old, we decided it was finally time for Ashley's first hair cut. We were getting to the point that we couldn't see her beautiful blue eyes that resembles her daddy's and grandfather Reagan's. I was so hoping her hair would curl a bit on the ends, but since it didn't seem to be doing this, it was just time.

We took her to a kid's hair cutter shop that was inside ToysRUs here in Austin-a kid's dream, right? When we got there, we learned this was at least one kid's worst nightmare! Poor little guy-boy. did he look sharp after he was done though. Ashley was a champ! She got to sit in the fire engine seat, turned the steering wheel and watched an Elmo video on her own private TV during the hair cut. She smiled and even giggled through out the whole 10 minute process. They sent home a special certificate and a lock of hair.

Ashley's First Day of School

On Sept 3, Ashley spent her last day in the Caterpillar/Infant room at school. She graduated with several of her other classmates to the Little Duck room for 12-20 month olds. We were thrilled that some of her teachers graduated with her to the new room-at least for a little while. So far, she's loving her new room. It's about 3x larger with big kid toys, tables and chairs which are used at meal/snack time and art time, instuments, a reading corner and fun bulletin boards that track each child's words they've delveloped, their likes and dislikes and weekly artwork.

Ashley with some of her classmates from the Caterpillar room and a view from her crib.

Ashley in her big girl spot in the Little Duck room.

Sarah_Jessica 1st Birthday

This weekend, Ashley and I made a trip to Houston to celebrate our special friends' birthday-Sarah (in yellow) and Jessica (in white) Ferrara. Their mom, Lisa, has been a dear friend of mine since our first day at UT in the SRD Dorm. Neither of us had a room mate, so we adopted each other which turned into a beautiful friendship, for which I am so thankful! Last winter, we discovered we were both pregnant at that same time and were to have our babies within 2 months of each other. What a thilling thing to experience together! The girls had a fantastic 1st birthday, and we were honored to celebrate this special day with their family and friends.

Another fete!

I'm so proud of myself. I turned this boring black and white blog into something much more appealing by importing a background from "cutestblogontheblock.com" Yay, me! Now I just have to figure out how to import photos, and eventually videos, and I'll be set to go. One catch, our connector cable to allow downloads from the camera to the computer were lost (or misplaced) in the move. That may take weeks to find. Wait a minute. It's already been weeks!

This is a first!

I'm finally getting on the social media bandwagon that I've tried hard to resist. I have never blogged before, nor have I been good about keeping up with other's blogs, but I've committed to trying this out. We've had so many firsts over the past 18 months that I need a way to share without being obnoxious about sending out my family photos every couple of days. And further more, as a marketing professional I should know how to do this, so, here it goes. This first post is a test and if all's well, I'll post again soon with much more exciting things to share.